I have just finished my degree and I'm now a registered nurse and have worked in many different areas throughout my studies, including mental health. Some of the things Hiking Fox mentioned sadly don't surprise me. Nurses are among the most trusted professionals in Australia and I would imagine it's similar throughout the world. It's sad to think that so many abuse this trust in their job. Makes you wonder why a lot of people choose nursing as a career in the first place.

absolutely mate , having worked in adult care (intellectual disability,autism in combo with severe challenging behaviour) and in special schools I reckon about 50% of the workers are there because they actually help clients, about 20% are gonna eventually leave cause they are in it just to have money coming in and 30% get off on being in control of the clients/patients/students.

In my counselling & psychotherapy training we are repeatedly told that people who are attracted to working in the care industry are drawn to it by the desire to fix something within themselves. They apparently recognise (whether consciously or not) that they have issues and seek to resolve these issues in others as a way of helping to fix themselves.

It really struck a cord with me at the time, and as I progress further through my training and personal therapy, my desire to work in the profession is diminishing... so who knows.

JohnBarleycorn wrote:If you need any help, support or ideas, feel free to send me a PM.

Thanks man, support is just what you need in these situations. Its like the second poster of your thread says though, its really hard to stop the kind of slow, low level intimidation that you describe.

Absolutely !

But its important to keep projecting yourself outwards and talk openly about it. I think nearly everyone in this situation tends to contract inwards, crawl into a hole and become more of a victim. I started to feel it was my fault, started to feel guilty. I even started to doubt myself and question whether I deserved this to happen. Having spoken to others, it seems to be a common reaction. It felt much better when I went public. Suddenly I realised it was ok to be a victim, it wasn't something to be ashamed of..........and psychopaths need their victims to hide away in the shadows. Its easier for them that way.

Hopefully your support network is/was strong, and you are past that stage !

I eat to nourish my compassion, not my greed

I'm the man they couldn't kill ! I cannot be destroyed with conventional weapons !

And probably the former fastest British Vegan 10, 25 and 50 mile TT rider. Probably.

Catt Queen wrote: as I progress further through my training and personal therapy, my desire to work in the profession is diminishing... so who knows.

I can understand that. Quite a few psychologists and therapists leave the profession because they become disillusioned at being expected to impose a set of morals about clean, healthy, productive living on their clients, rather than just being a listening ear and a stimulus for clients to make changes that they really want to make.

JohnBarleycorn wrote: .......and psychopaths need their victims to hide away in the shadows. Its easier for them that way.

Yes, they need you to feel alone and ashamed.

I wrote a story with a domestic violence sub-plot and got feedback that "people don't want to read about that sort of thing". The cartoonist Bryan Talbot pointed out in his comic book One Bad Rat, that there are far more stories, TV programmes and films featuring murder than there are featuring domestic violence, sexual abuse, stalkers etc. Yet the latter are far, far more common than murder. The lack of exposure such issues get in popular culture gives the false impression that they are rare events happening to a handful of people.

JohnBarleycorn wrote: .......and psychopaths need their victims to hide away in the shadows. Its easier for them that way.

Yes, they need you to feel alone and ashamed.

I wrote a story with a domestic violence sub-plot and got feedback that "people don't want to read about that sort of thing". The cartoonist Bryan Talbot pointed out in his comic book One Bad Rat, that there are far more stories, TV programmes and films featuring murder than there are featuring domestic violence, sexual abuse, stalkers etc. Yet the latter are far, far more common than murder. The lack of exposure such issues get in popular culture gives the false impression that they are rare events happening to a handful of people.

+1"like"nomination and such like..Bunny boilers and single white females (and their male equivalents) are all around us!